Monday, November 24, 2008

I love when you've been crazy busy, thinking so clearly, getting tons of things done. Then when you go to write a blog...your brain gives you nothing. I really love blogging. I usually keep a little list as I get blog ideas. However, lately when I actually go to write a blog, I just stare at the blank screen and hope something comes to me. Nothing.

In the last few days when I finish all my work, all I want to do is sleep. Mostly because it's one in the morning. I finally have most of my work caught up. I have a few loose ends, but should have that all together by tomorrow. I feel good about the amount of work I've been doing. And I'm excited that there have been some good ideas come to me about where I should be concentrating. So I'm feeling very positive about work.

~~~

My mom is driving down this week for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty excited. Thanksgiving is my most favoritest holiday. I'm a little bummed that my sister isn't coming down. But the girl is also working 7 days a week and needs some rest. She and her boyfriend are living with her boyfriends parents. So she just doesn't have her own space to get that relaxation that you only get at your own house. I think she's telling everyone she's coming down here, but she's really going to camp out at my mom's house, sleep, and go to my family's for Thanksgiving day. Funny, but she needs some serious rest.

At least I get my mom. We'll be having dinner at Mario's mom and sister's. My mom is so excited to have in-laws and she really loves Mario's mom and sister. So she didn't even ask what was going on, she just told me she was coming to have thanksgiving with them. She's cute. Besides Mario's sister is a wicked cook...so I can't wait! After dinner we'll be going to the DWP light show. It's this cheeserific light show put on by the department of water and power...which I think is a little funny. But it's fun. Then because mom hasn't been in 20 years, we're going to Disneyland!

~~~

So Mario was at Frys Electronics on Friday. He decided he wanted to buy "Wally". Buying videos is one of his favorite past-times. If there are videos to look through, that's where you'll find him. The clearance dvd bucket at the grochery store...he'll spend half an hour there looking for the best deal on that dvd from 10 years ago. So, he's found his Wally dvd and is looking through the the vast array of videos in front of him. Obviously he's really concentrating, because this older woman comes up to him and scares the shit out of him. Purposely. Hands up like claws, "RRRROOOOAAAAARRR!" He jumps a mile and turns to face her. And she says "don't worry, I'm not crazy. You just looked nice and I wanted to scare you" What?! Are people allowed to do that? She said that she's a teacher and can tell when someone's really an angel. Apparently made her want to scare him. Too freaking funny and off the wall! I wonder how often she does this. Is it a hobby? If I did that, I would be found crazy. However, apparently this lady gets away with scaring random people. (Courtney, I already know that you'll be trying this...don't get arrested. I don't want to have to explain this to your father if you do!)

This is as much as I can string together, now I'm off to bed! I guess I could have split it all up and gotten a few blogs out of it....nah

Friday, November 21, 2008

This week has flown by and yet is poking along all at the same time...making me crazy. I have been so busy this week. Two days up in Big Bear photographing, meetings, photo shoots, seminars and lots of photos to edit. I'm still thinking about hiring someone, maybe a friend to test the waters with, but haven't had the balls to yet. meh. I'm afraid to jinx all this work I have coming in. On the other hand, I know that if I don't just jump in and go for it, my business can't grow. I know...I'm working through it and I'm getting there.

So, I said I would put up a pretty photo from this week. So I brought back a little fall from Big Bear...

I don't usually mess around with my photos too much but I loved the wagon under the apple tree...however, it was a terribly busy photo. I like it edited a bit, it's kinda cute. If you click to enlarge it, you can see all the detail.

Anyway, I'm suposted to be working now. Instead I am avoiding the pile of photos sitting in front of me, so I can post a pointless blog. Off to work!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Today was my mother-in-laws birthday. She had decided that she wanted a sausage and pepperoni pizza from Tony Bella Vista's...the yummiest pizza! I was looking forward to it all day. And what happened on the way over there? Chaos...maybe caused by me. Mario and I picked up said mother-in-law. Drove back to our house to pick up sister-in-law. Then headed over to Tony Bella Vista's. Sis and I were in the back seat chit chatting when I noticed a little white spider on the outside of the window...you know how I love spiders. It was fine. It was small and more importantly, it was on the outside of the window. I was watching him crawl around. I was rather calm but had already decided that I would exit through the other door. Then for some reason I took a closer look...and realized that it was indeed on the inside of the window.

Screaming. Trying to climb onto sister-in-laws side of car. Seat belt holding me hostage. Spider running around like crazy, probably scared shitless because of crazy screaming lady. Sister-in-law arm holding me in place. Her laughing hysterically at me and pointing at little spider. Husband rolling down window trying to help the poor guy escape. Me screaming to roll it up before the wind blows it in. Sister still laughing. No roll the window down. Mother-in-law yelling because she has no idea what the hell is going on in the back seat. Finally the little spider decides it's too much and goes out the window. A little more screaming to roll up the window. Maybe I got a little out of hand. Maybe I bit sister-n-laws arm a little in my panic ridden state. We pull into a parking spot. Sister-in-law rolls out of the car doubled over laughing. I calmly exit through her door. We go inside and have some awesome pizza.

PS...I did apologize about the gnawing on her arm. It was merely a stress bite.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Today was Big Bear day. Tadao and I were up there photographing again...it was a long day. It's so beautiful up there right now. Of course I took over 1000 photos and have no "pretty" shots to show. Well, we're going up again on Thursday so I'll have to get some nice photos up for you all.

As beautiful as it is up there, it wasn't one of our most stellar days. We got great photos, everything seems to have turned out good. We finished our entire list of vacation homes to shoot and then some. It was just going well. Then, we hit a point were either we were getting tired or maybe our dumb was showing. Mostly it was Tadao. At one house he went running up the stairs, only to trip half way up and fall on his face. After I finished laughing at him, he pointed out that one of the stairs was a few inches taller than the rest. Okay. I'll be careful and keep my eye on that stair.

About ten minutes later, I made my way up the stairs totally unscathed. I turned around just in time to watch him trip on that same stair he had just warned me about and fall on his face again. Lots more laughing. This was only the beginning. Two curtain rods fell on him while trying to open them and a bed collapsed as he tried to repair one of said curtain rods.

What does this all mean? Time for a lunch break. Of course when you are tired, decision making isn't what you want to be doing. Tadao decided that we should eat somewhere new and not fast food. So we drove through the village trying to find a nice little cafe. He finally spotted a contender. I said no right away.

Me "Poo Bear Restaurant? There is no way that I am eating at a restaurant with poo in the name!"

Him "No dumbass, that's Boo Bear Restaurant"Me "well it's still a dumb name for a restaurant"

...we ended up eating there any way. That was pretty much our day. Lots of dumb shit. It didn't get any better after lunch really. At least I have a new rule for eating. No restaurants with "poo" in the name (or any variations of). Of course one of Mario's favorite hot dog stands is calle Papoos'...I'll have to break the news on my new rule.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Tonight in the check out at the grocery store, I saw a Woman's Day(or some magazine like that) with the headline "Loose 47 pounds by Christmas" Really, because that's about 10 pounds a week. Maybe they thought they could just make some ridiculous claim and see if people would buy the magazine out of curiosity. Because we know that it's just not going to happen without surgery. Even if I stopped eating all together I don't think I would accomplish that. I also want to know how they came up with 47 pounds. Was 50 pounds too incredible and 45 just not enough to interest people?

Anyway, it caught my eye and made me snort a little when I laughed. Then to explain away the snort, I grabbed the magazine and flipped through it a little and kinda mumbling about the articles. SO in the end I just looked like one of those crazy people in line laughing and talking to herself. Yup my social grace comes natural.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

So I missed a few days blogging. I'm so stinking busy with work. I have four projects going at once and I don't know what to do first. My house is a mess and I'm badly in need of a shower. I not really complaining. In this economy I'm glad I'm busy. But at this point I feel like I need to hire someone to help out a little. I have two friends that I pay to come with me on my Big Bear shoots, but now I have so many little projects going on that I need a little help with editing. I've been working 7 days a week for I don't know how long. I do take my time off to hang out but, I seem to spend many nights sitting in front of the computer working on images. I had another friend who owns a business tell me to hire a house cleaner before hiring an assistant. It's a good first step, opens up time, and is a major treat to have someone else clean the house. I love the idea but can't seen to bring myself to actually call someone. When I do think about calling someone, I start questioning whether we'd be able to afford it. Now I know that I just need to take that step and just do it. I know that's I'll find the money. Cut out a dinner out once a week and we're set. I can go around and around in my head with this. ehhhh...

I'm so over the 90 degree weather in November! It's just not right...

My Sister-in-law works for Disney. I get to see the new movies the weekend before they open. Last night we saw Bolt. So cute. A couple of scenes got the tears going. Besides the mushiness, it was a funny movie. Rhino(the hampster) stole the show. Go see it...

Mario is also in animation. He's a story board artist. So of course he buys a lot of the movies that come out. Tonight he came home with Kung Foo Panda(also very cute). Of course he's been working on a new show and working very long hours. Being a Saturday, he got all excited about staying up late and watching his new movie...he passed out in half an hour. So I get to listen to his movie and his snoring...

To allow myself to concentrate on my photos and block out the movie and loud snoring, I decided to listen to nature sounds. Rain and thunder. I love it. It's totally blocking out the noise, but this shit's putting me to sleep...

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Back in July, when I was spending my lunch reading in my fancy pool in the backyard. I would hear the ice cream man rolling down the street...playing Christmas music. In July. It actually took me a few times before I fully recognized what I was hearing.

I have to admit, it was a little confusing to my brain. Hearing Christmas music while sitting in a pool in 95+ degree weather. It felt wrong. Also, who makes Christmas music for ice cream trucks? Isn't the ice cream truck a summer occurrence? I don't recall actually seeing the ice cream truck out around Christmas. Maybe he got his hands on a special ice cream truck Christmas mix and thought, "shit I have this great mix, but I don't run during the winter...might as well play it now". Although now that I think about it, maybe it's to make us feel like it's winter outside, even when it's really a 83 degree November day here in Burbank.

I understand that whatever the reason, the ice cream truck driver went with the Christmas music. However, for the few days before Halloween, he went to normal ice cream truck music. Only to go back to the Christmas music for Halloween day. This ice cream truck DJ is really a mystery to me. At least now as I listen to the fifth Christmas song in a row from him (how many kids live on this street that he's out there for five songs) I think, at least it's starting to feel a little more Christmassy...if I close my eyes and pretend it's not really 83 degrees out.

***there is an ice cream truck that cruises around Burbank that is awesome. It's silver, very clean and cool...they play Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, etc. If that ice cream truck were to make it to my street, I would be running out for ice cream every day...Cause ice cream doesn't get cooler than that!***

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

This year I made a few goals for myself. They were personal goals that I don't think I've even mentioned them to Mario. They aren't really new years resolutions, however, they happen to have come to fruition around that time. Over all I wanted to waste less. This isn't some big "green" decision, it's more about saving money and actually using all the things that I buy.

My first goal was to not buy books for a year. The goal was to save money and read the million books I already own. This was quitting a hard addiction cold turkey. It started out rough. I've always read and read a lot. I feel like if I'm going to have an addiction, it might as well be reading. At least I am using my brain. However, I had a habit of going to target for toilet paper and coming home with four or five new books. It doesn't matter how many unread books I had, I'd keep buying more. I was wasting money. Second, I have lots of books sitting around taking up a lot of space in a very small apartment. Third, I have a beautiful library two blocks away that I have never stepped foot in. I know you book readers out there are thinking I'm either crazy or brave for trying. But don't make me a hero yet...my whole family are book readers. I knew that even if I don't buy books, when I visit them I'll come home with a bunch more. So while it was hard not to buy the band new book, I knew I could still score some books. I miss buying brand new books, but not too much. I've rediscovered books that I've had for a while and never read. I know that when this year is up that I'll continue with this goal for a while. I still have quite a few books to get through and I still haven't stepped foot in that library. I do know that when I actually do start buying new books again they will be fewer and farther between, and maybe a bit more special and exciting...at least that's what I tell myself.

My second goal was along the same lines. I have collected products. Under my sinks and in cabinets are cluttered with cleaning products, hair products, beauty products and lotions. I'm not sure when this happened. Maybe it's moving to such a small apartment, when it all was squished in here, I finally saw the amount of unused things I had. Well, I decided that before I can buy more, I need to use all these products I already have. This part of my goal has been more satisfying than I would have guessed. I have been making due with what I have and I'm actually seeing a decline in the amount of crap product around. Cleaning product I'm not into will surely be used up quick...I'm forever trying to make our shower look half good. The only problem is with more of the beauty things. You know when you decided to try some new little lotion or hair product, and when you get it home you realize it's shit. Well, under my new goal, I don't want to just throw these things away. Lotion too thin or thick, I can mix together and get a decent lotion. If I'm going to spend the money on this crap I'm going to have to use it. It definitely makes me think first about buying. I have also found the husband kind of useful in this, some things I can pawn off on him. Conditioner that I don't like...he'll use.

The last year that I have used these new goals has gone really well. The only problem I have really run into is when I ran out of shower gel. I got some for one of those deals at target where you get two bottles for a cheaper price. It smelled good and were a good price. Perfect. They were big bottles so I knew they'd last a while. I put one in the shower and one under the sink for later. The next day I got in the shower, squirted some in my hand and started reading on the bottle about the scrubbing beads in it. As I rubbed it on myself, I realized that I hate those scrubbing beads. Really really hate those damn beads. Why I had never realized this before I don't know. I mean I must have had some inkling or it was just dumb luck that I had avoided those little beads for so long, but now I have two huge bottles of this crap. After my shower I tried pawning it off on Mario...no he likes bar soap. Whatever, I'm pretty sure he'd been using my other shower gels! Of course I'm not just going to throw this stuff away. Damn my new goals! Now every time I use that shower gel, I think about how much I hate the beads and even worse, I know there's another bottle of it waiting for me under the sink.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Or lucky assholes. So yesterday turned out to have some nice surprises. The morning started out great, sleeping in and being lazy. Then we met Mario's mother and sister for brunch. This was a great thing. Mario's mother has been going through Chemo and Radiation, and this was her first time she's really had the energy to be out and about. I was really excited to see her feeling that well. For me that felt like a milestone.

After a little running around with them, we decided to make a run to Ikea. Love that store. About half way there we see this big red old car with smoke all around. I knew immediately who it was. We live in Burbank. Right in the media district, only a few blocks from NBC studios.

Can you see who it is...probably not. It's Jay Leno in one of his steam cars. Now I'm not sure why. I can see celebrities and think it's cool, but I get very excited when I see Jay Leno. I know this because we've seen Jay before at Universal Studios. He was doing on of his "Jay on the Street" or something like that. Asking people questions to embarrass them on his show. When I saw him I just stopped and and was so excited. Mario kept asking me if I wanted to go say hi. Nah.

Then to see him in his car was fun. I was just short of telling Mario to follow him. I'm starting to sound like a stalker.

Our third surprise came later. After all our little errands, Mario dropped me off back home. I had a lot of work to tackle and he wanted to go to work for a little. I spent all day working. When Mario got home it was a little late. I still had a bunch of work and wasn't about to fix dinner. Mars didn't feel like making dinner either...it's a pizza night. Mario orders and we waited. And waited... I was starving and getting pretty impatient. Finally while I was in the other room, I heard the pizza guy come. I heard some apologies and was curious. I walk into the living room to see the mistake. What happens when the pizza place makes the wrong pizza? The toppings were correct, however, the mistake was clear. I saw the biggest pizza box I have ever seen! They had accidentally made the wrong size pizza. The reason it took so long was because it takes a while to make a 28 inch pizza.

What do we do? We bring in reinforcements. We called Tadao...the man has hollow legs and is known for his appetite. The pizza was cut into squares. He ate a row and a half of pizza. That is is 5 inches by 42 inches of pizza in all that he ate. And he said he didn't eat that much because, he had eaten a little earlier. Still impressed and we still have over half the pizza left.

I like to call this photo "aftermath". Can you see the box is the entire length of his leg.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

I was just about to post about my goal this year of less waste, when there was a surprising noise. This is where you'll find out how immature I really am. It was a fart. Now, potty humor makes me laugh. My father only had two girls, so he had to teach someone to appreciate potty humor. I'll be honest, good potty humor is one of the quickest ways to my heart.

However, it's wasn't a gross people fart. It was a dainty, high pitched, long winded emission from my proud little cat, Bob. The first time he pretended it didn't happen. The second time he had that look that said "damn that felt good". Poor guy. He's always had a delicate system, but I still laughed my ass off and hugged him(not too hard).

"I'm too cute to do something like that!"

I guess I'm just surprised. In the three and a half years I've had Bob, I've never heard him pass gas. So I guess I just assumed that cats didn't do that. I know that doesn't make sense, because I've had dogs and I KNOW that they do. Growing up we had a big golden retriever named Windy(my parents had no idea how telling that name was. Our other retriever's name was Breezy...nice theme). Windy had gas problems. She'd take the paint off walls. However, this girl was smart, she knew how to blame. She'd be napping and let one loose. Then get up and give you the dirtiest look a dog could give, walk out of the room in disgust, leaving you to suffer alone. Nothing like being shut down by a dog.

Bob isn't even near that bad, but poor Bob, my gassy little guy. I'm always on the look out for a food that suites him. I finally found a natural food that doesn't make him throw up so much. Although it has occurred to me that his throwing up could be a ploy to get more moist food and get rid of that dry shit I keep putting out. I know this because, he lets me know that he thinks it's shit by trying to cover it up. Opinionated yes. We have to keep the dry food though, with the amount of food Dexter eats, we'd be out of a home. Anyone out there know a good natural food for a big eater and a sensitive stomach?

Friday, November 07, 2008

I walked into the bedroom from the bathroom. Looked at Mario and handed him the tiny pill. I didn't say anything. He took it from me and immediately started to pop it in his mouth.

"Wait!" He freezes and looks at me. "That's my birth control pill". He looks at me like I'm crazy. "I can't believe you gave me your birth control pill...I could have actually taken that!""I can't believe you would just take anything I hand you without asking""Well, I trust you""That is where you should know better"

I was mostly curious, but wasn't surprised at all...ok maybe a little surprised. To this day he always asks what I'm giving him. Now, why I always have to give him any medications? Because the man cannot remember to take anything. His allergy medicine, any cold medicine, etc. The man can have the cold of the century and it will not occur to him to take anything for it.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

We are having a spaghetti party in our house in honor of Barack Obama. I knew singing "Solid as BaRock" would help! We are some happy happy people, Mario and me. Mario wouldn't let me be excited until after John McCain gave his concession speech. A speech from the real john mcCain, not the McCain Campaign. It was the first time I felt like McCain was being honest and himself. So now I am allowed to be excited and am I ever!

"The truth is that for the first time since 1992 I am voting for a Presidential candidate instead of against one."

I feel like we have been voting for the lesser of two evils or voting to keep someone out of office. Today I voted for someone that gives me hope and makes me feel like our country will head in a good direction. I am very hopeful for our country. Today when I stood in line to vote I was excited, when I voted I was excited, and afterward I was beyond excited about what could be. I'm truly happy about our next president!

I must be getting old. I find myself shooting dirty looks to those youngins with the windows down and the music blaring in their car. Really. I'm turning into an old lady.

Until I pulled up next to a car yesterday blasting Def Leopard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me"...awesome. I love that song. I tried to keep up with him, just to listen to the rest of the song, but he was one of those reckless drivers causing a ruckus and I was becoming one of them trying to keep up.

~~~

I drove home from dinner with the husband and the second husband with them singing every single word to "YMCA" full blast and in harmony...was a little embarrassed for them

~~~

Can't stop singing "Solid as Ba-Rock(Barack)" cracks me up and is definitely a catchy tune.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Last week, like most weeks found me up in Big Bear for my photo shoots. Mario comes with me when he can. When he can't, I generally persuade one of my poor looser friends to assist me. This last week found Tadao working with me...sucker. (This is also the friend that officiated Mario's and my wedding...apparently you can offer money to this guy and he'll do anything. He has also worked in photography and I take advantage of this)

The day started off normal. Big beautiful vacation homes overlooking a beautiful lake. It's actually fall up there. So it was beautiful with some rain thrown in. We were getting through our list of homes pretty well. At one of the homes, the home owner decided to be at the photo shoot of his house. He had done a great job staging the house and wanted to make sure everything was perfect. The table was set and the fire was going. Being in entertainment, Tadao turned right on and kept this guy busy while I photographed the house. Within ten minutes they were fast friends. They had both lived in Chicago, both had been radio DJs, both moved to LA to work in entertainment. While I photographed the kitchen, Tadao took off with a camera to photograph the exteriors. The home owner was very nice and asked if I wanted anything to drink...no thanks. Would my husband like anything to drink? He does have the wine out, maybe he'd like a drink? No thanks I said, if he has any wine, nothing will get finished. It was then that I could have corrected him and said that he wasn't my husband, but I figured we'd be leaving soon enough. What's the harm.

Now, in our group of friends there are only two of us girls, Colleen and I both married into this group. Tadao is pretty much the second husband to us. when our husbands can't be there, Tadao is generally called in to help out or drive us somewhere. When I drove up to Santa Barbara to do a hair test before the wedding, Tadao came with and took photos and played the girlfriend. He already has the script down and answers "yes dear" to our requests.

So when I decided not to correct the home owner, I figured no big deal. When Tadao finished photographing the exteriors and came back inside, I quickly told him that the home owner thought we were married. He laughed and said "yes dear". As I started to walk over and start photographing the living room, I heard,

"Honey buns, would you like me to carry the tripod for you?" "No thanks""Are you sure love bug?""No SWEETY""Alright turtle dove, I'll be out back shooting the back deck"

pain in the ass! Ten minutes pass and he comes back in and starts laying it on thick again...smiling the entire time.

"Sugar love, have you finished photographing all the back rooms?""yup""are you sure you got that back office, Honey?""yup got it sugar pants""All right Sweets"

It just went on and on. I was already a little nauseous and this wasn't helping. I'm sure the home owner thought we were nuts. We spent the rest of the day laughing about it.

It's Me...

Burbank, CA

I'm a photographer living in the Los Angeles area. I'm a wife, and foster mother, business owner, sister, daughter, friend, and nerd. I love to laugh and share the most embarrassing stories, but sometimes I can get serious. I'm heading towards 40, but feel like I'm still growing up.